


Of Dragons and Sorceresses and Those Things Called Small Children

by pbandfluff



Category: Merlin (TV), Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-08
Updated: 2014-03-08
Packaged: 2018-01-15 01:17:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1285804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pbandfluff/pseuds/pbandfluff
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alora is a tiny wisp of a thing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Dragons and Sorceresses and Those Things Called Small Children

**Author's Note:**

  * For [madameshocking](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=madameshocking).



Alora is a tiny wisp of a thing.

Maleficent knows it, Regina knows it, everyone in Maleficent’s employ knows it; gods above, Alora knows it herself. 

Maleficent remembers the night Regina came staggering into her castle, Alora bundled and clutched to her chest, how she had taken one look at the wide-eyed babe who cried not with the cold but shivered nonetheless, and immediately thought that the pretty little thing would not make it through a fortnight. The same thought had crossed her mind about her dear friend as well, but Maleficent is glad to admit that this once, she was wrong.

For all her wrongness in Alora and Regina’s will to survive, it does not absolve the fact that Alora retained the air of one who was born too early and fed too late. Regina and Maleficent feed her every good food available to them, and then some, keep her wrapped in the winter and cool in the summer, make her toys and bows and swords to garner strength in her limbs, and give her books to sharpen her mind.

It rounds out Alora’s character, but does nothing for her slightness.

Maleficent has no intention of becoming attached to the young girl, but even the dragonheart inside of her acquiesces to amber flecked eyes that watch in adoration as she flies to and from her castle, taking time to preen herself before walking on two legs once more simply because Alora loves the color her scales flash as they catch the sunlight.

Regina never comments on Maleficent’s softened heart in regards to her daughter, but she smirks knowingly as Maleficent allows Alora to climb onto her lap and fall asleep curled against her on her throne. Maleficent ignores Regina and threads careful fingers through Alora’s curls amidst barking orders to her guards.

-

Maleficent never asks about Alora’s conception. She can sense it’s not something Regina speaks of easily, and Maleficent has been on the receiving end of her wrath far too many times to have the courage or willingness to push the subject forward. Whoever the missing parent may be, Maleficent cannot find a single streak of them in Alora.

She is wholly her mother’s daughter, and so it should not surprise Maleficent – though it does – when Alora begins to drag animals of all kinds back into the castle from the surrounding forests. The bird and the cat and the fox and the rabbit were one thing, but when Alora emerges from the forest with a yearling colt trailing behind her Maleficent storms to Regina’s rooms to try and explain that this is a palace, not a menagerie.

Regina merely arches an eyebrow and points to the tiny unicorn that clops into the room behind her like an imprinted gosling as well as the Alora-saved crow that has taken roost on her shoulder and now carries her letters to and from the castle.

Maleficent knows she will not win this argument and merely tells Regina to at least keep the animals out of the throne room before stalking off, hoping Regina’s laughter has more to do with the ungainly cry the unicorn makes as it attempts to catch up with her and less with the fact steam is beginning to literally puff out from her nose.

Alora and “Ximi”, as he comes to be called, are put under the tutelage of Regina and Maleficent is happy to see that the lessons draw a newfound happiness out of both mother and daughter. Maximo (Regina insists on using his full name; Maleficent calls him “horse” and he snorts at her in return – she finds the arrangement pleasing) won’t be ready to ride for another year or two according to Regina’s knowledge of all things equestrian, and this is the reason given for Maleficent to begin giving Alora rides over the forest.

The kingdoms to the north and east have begun expanding their territories, and while Maleficent’s kingdom is far from being disturbed by such movement, the effects have rippled through the forests of all the known lands, forcing Regina and Maleficent to accompany Alora at all times outside the castle walls.

Alora is, as Maleficent is apt to snap at Regina, her mother’s daughter, and functions never so well as she does outside amongst the briar and bramble of the forest. To try and sequester her to the castle is out of the question.

(At least, it is after Alora catches a cold from Regina, who caught it from Maleficent, who caught it from a guard, who caught it from his wife who worked in the kitchens, who caught it from her son, and winds up bedridden for nearly a week, driving Regina near out of her mind with worry over the lack of modern medicine, and only shows signs of improving when allowed to sit out on the balcony to her room. Both Regina and Maleficent are quick to allow Alora her time outside from then on out.)

-

Flying with Alora is a harrowing experience at first, as Maleficent cannot hardly feel Alora’s weight on her back and Alora is not strong enough to tug at Maleficent’s crests to communicate. Eventually Maleficent concedes a saddle is needed, but draws the line at a bridle. Alora is kind, and picks out leather that nearly blends into Maleficent’s scales, giving the illusion that there is no saddle at all. Regina impishly expresses her disappointment that her saddle does not match her clothing, and Maleficent spends the next week talking Alora down from having the saddle color magically switched to a bright fuchsia, a slight she warns Regina will not be easily forgotten.

After the saddle is implemented, Alora takes to riding like Maleficent herself takes to the skies. It’s easy for her to forget that she has a rider, so easily does Alora turn and twist and dive along with her over the forest. It all goes smashingly well.

Almost too well.

-

Maleficent leaves the raising of Alora as a whole to Regina and acts as a sort of live-in aunt at best. Regina had only one rule for Maleficent when it was decided they were to stay with her permanently: magic can be used, but never taught. Maleficent has her own opinions on the matter, but those are best left to herself, and so she abides diligently to Regina’s mandate. She finds no reason to hide what magic she does from Alora, though she is quick to escort her out of the room when a particularly powerful spell is needed, and directs her to question her mother on the topic. Alora is curious but obedient, and finds more use in her mother’s knowledge of plants and animals than potions and charms, a fact Maleficent is entirely grateful for.

Even without being taught, Maleficent can feel that Alora holds her own power. She knows, right down to her tail, that there is more to Alora than Regina lets on, but whatever power Alora holds only resonates as a peaceful hum in the air and she easily lets the matter slide from her mind. A few odd instances are easy enough to ignore.

That, of course, is not what Maleficent begins thinking when Alora yanks her head to the north one day mid-flight and digs her heels into Maleficent’s shoulders. The young girl on her back suddenly feels like a full-grown man, and Maleficent is confused enough to follow her directions. Her confusion only grows when the forest begins to change, a blanket of dark green fading into a kaleidoscope of greens and reds and yellows, and it is only their presence in mid-air that keeps her from transforming and questioning what exactly Alora has led them to.

Alora dips her head, and Maleficent is led into a sharp descent that lands them in a clearing barely large enough for Maleficent to move in. The forest does a strange thing then, and darkens around them, shielding them in the cover of night. Alora’s weight slides off her back, and Maleficent is forced to shift quickly and sprint after her charge as she darts into the forest. Maleficent is thinking about spelling the girl back to her side when she slides to a halt scant feet in front of Maleficent, and it takes all her dexterity and a spell bit out from behind her teeth for Maleficent to come to a rest behind her.

Before them, the forest is thin, with plenty of paths to take into the darker portions that surround them. Maleficent instinctively scans for some sort of danger and nearly bites her tongue off in frustration when Alora scampers forward. That summoning charm is on the tip of her tongue when she realizes Alora is hovering over something. Correction – Alora is hovering over some _one_.

Maleficent’s protective instincts flare without warning, and she finds herself wedged between Alora and the stranger on the ground in a heartbeat. It takes one heartbeat more for her to realize this stranger is about to die. Magic is pouring off of her in waves, and Maleficent’s nose can already smell the first wafts of death that creep along the edge of her senses.

Alora is clawing at her skirts to try and get around her, the oncoming smell of decay is already giving her a headache, and she can hear someone shuffling in the distance – to or from this place, she doesn’t care; they are there and they are here and gods be  _damned_  Regina owes her for the rest of their unnatural lives for this.

The spell to heal the woman flows from her fingertips as easily as hefting Alora up and over her shoulder while transforming, and she tosses the strange woman none too gently onto her back with Alora before beginning their flight back to the castle. She barely notices when Alora’s weight seems to change once more, so caught up is she in deciding what favors Regina will be fulfilling for her when they return home.

-

The favors will have to wait for a while, it seems, as Maleficent spends the next few days hiding in her own castle from Regina and her anger. It is a welcome reprieve, then, when their guest awakes and asks for the lady of the castle. That she took out three of Maleficent’s best guards while doing is not lost on the sorceress, but she has to respect a woman who can hold her own.

Maleficent’s sweeping entrance into the woman’s chambers is hampered somewhat by Alora darting in just as the door closes and giggling when Maleficent turns to glare at her. The woman perched on the end of the bed barks out a single laugh as well, and Maleficent knows suffering well enough to recognize the sound of one who has forgotten what it is to laugh.

The introductions become very terse and nearly shift into a “who has the bigger fireball” contest before Alora sits herself on the woman’s lap and asks her if she knew that Aunt Mally was a dragon. Maleficent flushes at the nickname and the woman merely raises an eyebrow in her direction as she explains no, she didn’t know that, and what else didn’t she know about “Aunt Mally”?

Maleficent considers things to have gone downhill from there.

Morgana, as Maleficent comes to find out is her name, manages to wheedle her way into Regina’s good graces, smiling impishly when Maleficent is left to handle Regina’s lingering anger alone.

Alora clings to Morgana like an older sister, and Maleficent is disgusted to find herself jealous of the attention bestowed the younger woman.

Her guards are beguiled and awestruck at the statuesque and powerful woman who now shares a castle with their leader and if Maleficent weren’t so attached to the men and women who served her, she’d have them moved just to cease the constant chatter that drifts from the servant’s quarters over Morgana’s day to day activities.

Maleficent likes to think she handles the next few weeks well.

Her newly constructed brooding nest begs to differ.

It doesn’t help when Morgana stumbles upon her adding to it and comments offhandedly that Aithusa, her dragon, of sorts, never did this.

Maleficent still claims that fireball was justified.

It sends a clear message to Morgana, however, and the young sorceress is quick to stay out of Maleficent’s way when not protected by Regina or Alora’s presence. Maleficent is infuriated to find that Morgana’s avoidance of her angers her more than the rest of the changes wrought in her castle.

Petulant dragons are no one’s friend, and so it doesn’t surprise Maleficent when Regina intervenes on behalf of the castle. What does surprise her is Regina’s charge to “kiss the woman and be done with it, you’re making a fool of yourself”.

Maleficent still claims that fireball was justified as well.

Regina’s words linger in her head every time she manages to catch a glimpse of Morgana as she moves about the castle, and Maleficent spends days cursing both Regina and Morgana for turning everything scatter-end up.

She is a dragon and a sorceress, by the gods. She should know better than this.

The tension is finally broken by the appearance of Aithusa, who had been able to follow Morgana through whatever barrier Alora had opened, and was, according to Alora, responsible for Morgana’s timely rescue.

Maleficent has, to be fairly honest, never seen another dragon before, and so Aithusa is… not what she expects. But then again, she  _is_  Morgana’s dragon, and as such things seem to go with Morgana, nothing turns out as expected.

Aithusa towers above all of them at her full height, but she is so small in comparison to Maleficent’s own dragon. So small and so hurt that Maleficent can barely keep herself from enfolding her in her wings and biting all who would approach them. Instead, she settles for remodeling a large portion of her castle to accommodate Aithusa next to Morgana’s chambers and studiously avoids both the surprised looks Morgana throws her way and the smirk that seems to be planted on both Regina and Alora’s faces.

Peace settles upon the castle for all of three nights before Aithusa has a nightmare.

Maleficent wakes to the piercing cry of a dragon terrified for its life and the shouting of Morgana as she attempts to talk Aithusa down. Maleficent smokes from her room to Morgana’s and nearly falls through the floor. Aithusa is spitting her magical breath all over her and Morgana’s joint rooms to varied effects, and Maleficent knows this has to stop before Aithusa takes out half the castle and everyone with it.

Morgana has been backed into a corner, desperately trying to communicate without resorting to magical means and slightly terrified herself. Maleficent knows from Morgana that Aithusa’s ability to speak has been taken away from her, and she surmises whatever did so is also the root of the night terror Aithusa is currently caught in.

Without thinking, Maleficent briskly walks into the room, shifting effortlessly as she clears the doorway, and blows a gust of warm air over the young dragon. Aithusa’s reaction is immediate, and she stumbles underneath Maleficent’s wing, head pressed over the source of heat that lies in Maleficent’s chest, her cries tapered off to tiny whimpers. Morgana rushes from the corner and throws her arms around Aithusa, whispering words that Maleficent tries not to hear, and soothing silence out of the smaller dragon at last.

Maleficent nudges Morgana underneath her wing as well, and settles down where they stand in the middle of the room, content to idly heat the stone walls with her fire as they fall asleep. Regina says nothing when she finds them the next morning, but silently gloats all the same, and Maleficent singes the tips of her hair in warning and just a little payback.

Something shifts after that night.

Maleficent spends most nights with Aithusa in her room, and if Morgana chooses to join them, she doesn’t say anything. Morgana enlists her help in teaching Aithusa how to properly hunt and they both, along with Regina and Alora, begin attempting to slowly straighten Aithusa’s twisted and cramped limbs.

-

The harvest comes and goes, and while Alora is finally allowed to ride Ximi, Aithusa begins growing anew, no longer burdened by pain when she flies. Morgana begins growing as well, growing out of the shell of pain and anger that seemed so intrinsically tied to her being that Maleficent nearly fell off her throne the first time she heard Morgana truly laugh. (Maleficent does not think about the warmth that blossomed in her chest to accompany the experience that had nothing to do with her fire.)

Regina and Alora, in Maleficent’s opinion, have become insufferable with their constant innuendos and not-so-subtle hints that perhaps Maleficent should do something about the ever-shrinking gap between herself and Morgana.

One night she mentions such a thing to Morgana in her frustration and Morgana merely laughs – laughs! – at Maleficent and presses their lips together.

Maleficent stills claims that fireball was… well…

Involuntary would be the proper word for the situation, but Maleficent insists on calling it accidental. It lasts right up until Morgana learns a particularly spectacular move with her tongue and the fireball scorch on the wall Maleficent has to explain away by sheer size alone cannot be termed anything but involuntary.

Let it be known, she finally concedes, that she has a bit of a fire problem around Morgana. Morgana merely laughs until Maleficent reminds her, rather pointedly, that she is a sorceress of the highest order in the known lands.

A sorceress who, when the mood suits her, has a highly dexterous and forked tongue.

After that comment, to Maleficent’s great delight, Morgana proves that she has a bit of a magic problem around her as well.

-

Alora takes to their relationship like she does everything else in life: with a smile and a half-curious tilt of her head. Morgana is renamed “Aunt Mor’a” to match Maleficent’s own “Aunt Mally”, and Aithusa becomes a bit of a cousin to the young girl. (Cousin ‘Thusie to be precise.)

Regina has always been the sister that Maleficent never wanted and the friend she always needed, and she becomes something of the same for Morgana, though Maleficent can tell their sisterhood comes from common pasts that run much deeper than Maleficent’s own.

Aithusa will always turn to Morgana first, a trait Maleficent cannot fault the ivory dragon, but Maleficent likes to think that she has become something closer to Aithusa’s dragon mentor. (Alora impishly called her Aithusa’s dragon mother once, and Maleficent snorted her drink so ferociously in shock that her smoke smelled like wine for the next few days.) The younger dragon has thrived amongst their hodge-podge family of sorts, and only her lack of speech belies the darker days spent in the land of her birth.

Alora presents Morgana with her own saddle at the solstice, a gift which puzzles Morgana until Maleficent and Alora show her how a dragon and rider may fly together. Maleficent can tell Aithusa wants nothing more than to learn to carry Morgana, but for all her growing she still can’t hold the weight of an adult. Instead, Alora decides, she will teach Aithusa how to fly with a passenger and Maleficent will teach Morgana how to ride. Maleficent is almost positive Regina put her daughter up to this, but there’s little to be said when it is the only logical way of doing things.

Morgana, thankfully, adapts perfectly from horse riding to dragon flying, and in a matter of weeks is as proficient at flying as Alora is. Aithusa takes a bit of cajoling, but eventually learns to soar and swoop at an equal level to Maleficent, pleasing Alora to no end. (Regina, when not gardening, sits out on her balcony with a book and watches them practice, restraining herself to only a mere cringe when the two dragons and their riders pass each other at just a tad too scarce a distance.)

-

The new connection of flying between Aithusa and Alora brings back some of the unusual occurrences around Alora, and Maleficent is quick to cut off whatever questions Morgana might pose to Regina. “Let them be” becomes her mantra to Morgana, but eventually even Maleficent cannot deny there are answers that need to be spoken.

Aithusa cannot speak, yet Alora converses with her as though that fact were not so. Aithusa’s breath and fire cannot harm Alora, though no one is sure if the root of such a thing is in Aithusa’s intent or a power Alora wields. The fact that Aithusa could in any way contact Alora, a fact claimed by both girl and dragon as the reason for Morgana’s rescue, still baffles both sorceresses, and how Alora knew where to guide Maleficent that day in the forest with no indication by Aithusa or Morgana is a mystery only explained by magic.

Alora laughs off their concern in a way only a child can, and tells them they’re being ridiculous adults. Aithusa nods in the background, much to Morgana and Maleficent’s amusement, and for that day they let the matter slide.

Regina, however, does not, and Maleficent knows her dear friend begins to confide in Morgana whatever fear has kept her adamant that Alora be far removed from performing magic. Maleficent is infuriatingly curious to know what it is that Regina did not tell her that first night of her and Alora’s arrival at her castle, but Morgana’s silence on the matter gives her enough insight to know that perhaps Maleficent is better off not knowing.

-

The never-ending question of Alora being magical or not comes to a head the second summer after Aithusa arrives.

It is Morgana’s birthday, and Alora and Aithusa have been as thick as thieves for the preceding week. Regina is lax with Alora’s studies in the summer, and Maleficent and Morgana are rather busy sorting out the preparations for the influx of refugees rumored to be heading their way from the northeast, leaving Alora and Aithusa rather unchallenged reign over the castle. Maleficent will occasionally catch the tail end of a skirt or the tail end of a, well, tail as she prowls from meeting to meeting, but other than fleeting glimpses, sees none of her goddaughter or dragon ward.

Morgana’s birthday is a rather lush if not private celebration. The whole of the castle filters into the throne room, where table upon table sit full to the brim with food and drink. The feast begins midday and lasts until the sun is well below the horizon. Morgana, Maleficent, Aithusa, Alora, and Regina retire to Morgana and Maleficent’s chambers where more personal presents are given.

From Regina, a year’s supply of potion herbs, hand raised and picked from her garden.

From Alora, a set of iron-reinforced leather armor.

Maleficent’s present ties in well with Alora’s, and Morgana’s face lights up when Maleficent finally presents the dragon-forged sword she personally helped smith. As Aithusa shuffles forward and confers with Alora, Maleficent whispers to Morgana that they will learn to fight together as they fly together, eliciting a look from Morgana that rather pleases Maleficent and urges her to draw this day to a close.

Alora is nodding expectantly at Aithusa, encouraging her to do what, Maleficent doesn’t know. Aithusa strains her neck a few times, mouth open, before shaking her head. Maleficent watches as Alora adopts her mother’s “displeased face” before taking Aithusa’s muzzle into her hands and commanding her to try again.

Aithusa strains her neck again, eyes locked on Alora’s, and before Regina or Morgana can pull them away from each other, all three sorceresses are nearly thrown back as a wave of magic blasts outward from Alora and bathes the room in a silver light.

Alora turns, a smile on her face, and taps Aithusa’s nose even as a silver glow fades from her eyes.

“Try now” she commands, and Aithusa rumbles deep in her throat.

Before anyone can open their mouth to ask what in the name of the gods just happened, someone comments to Alora that perhaps it would be better to give a bit of forewarning next time.

Alora giggles and taps Aithusa on the nose once more.

It hits Maleficent then that Aithusa has spoken.

Morgana’s child has  _spoken_.

The next few moments are a rather emotional blur as Morgana begins sobbing in earnest into Aithusa’s scales, Aithusa keeps repeating the word “mother” over and over, while Regina clutches Alora tightly to herself as Alora explains what magic has been wrought.

Maleficent is caught up in shock and feels nothing for a moment before Aithusa asks Morgana if there’s something wrong with mother. Maleficent stares dumbly as Morgana turns to her and replies that she doesn’t know, why doesn’t Aithusa ask her?

The world tilts. Time stands still. Maleficent feels the fire in her chest surge out of control in a way she does not understand.

Aithusa lays her head on Maleficent’s shoulder and Maleficent reaches a hand up to hold her in place out of instinct.

Aithusa asks if she is angry, and Maleficent tells her no, stunned to find when she speaks that she is crying.

Please don’t cry, mother, Aithusa asks politely, wiping away Maleficent’s tears with her snout.

The fire flames up again, and Maleficent turns her face into Aithusa’s muzzle.

Mother.

How novel a word. How common a word. How… How… How…

Perfect.

How perfect.

She is Maleficent: ruler, dragon, sorceress of the highest order in the known lands, beloved of Morgana Pendragon.

And  _mother_.

Morgana joins her at her side, folding herself around dragon and woman alike. The moment is only partially broken by Alora, still the smallest of them all, leaping into Maleficent’s arms and landing two loud kisses on Morgana and Maleficent’s cheeks as they laugh before declaring the day a total success.

-

Alora is a tiny wisp of a thing.

But the way Maleficent sees it, that hasn’t stopped her in the least.


End file.
